Submitted by mactire, who says:

I’d be interested to know your opinion of the updated Manchester tram map, a different version of which was featured earlier this year (August 2015, 4 stars)? Personally, although I can see the need to accommodate increasing complexity in the system, I don’t think the route indicators are easy to follow, and the placement of symbols and labels seems just a bit messier in fitting around them.

Transit Maps says:

I’d have to agree with mactire – this is definitely a retrograde step in the evolution of this map. 

I can see why it’s been done, as some unusual service patterns and terminal stations have been introduced while the last connecting piece of track in the city centre is being constructed, but it’s just not very intuitive to use. Finding both ends of a given route can take quite a while, and then you have to retrace the route between them to make sure you’ve got things right. Then there’s the daily service patterns (every day, Monday through Saturday only, Sunday only) to factor in as well… it’s a headache-inducing mess. 

The route designation arrows do seem a bit tacked on, especially at Victoria, and their colourfulness means that the other informational icons have all been reduced to black and white so they don’t compete visually. I actually thought the previous versions of the icons were very successful – the blue backgrounds for the park-and-ride icons worked particularly well as a contrast to the brown backgrounds of the other “connection” icons – so it’s a shame to see them reduced so much in importance here.

Our rating: An experiment in presenting route information differently, but I really don’t feel it’s that successful. Takes far too long for the user to parse route and schedule information. Hopefully will revert back to something more like previous maps when construction work is complete. Two-and-a-half stars. 

Source: Official Metrolink website (PDF link)